(CNN)America has chosen Democrat Joe Biden as its 46th president, CNN projects, turning at a time of national crisis to a man whose character was forged by aching personal tragedy and who is pledging to restore calm and truth after Donald Trump‘s exhausting and manic single term.In a written statement Saturday, Biden, who is expected to address the American people later in the day, said he was “honored and humbled” by the trust the American people have placed in him.”In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America,” Biden said. “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.””We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”California Sen. Kamala Harris, his running mate, will make history as the first woman, the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent to become vice president. On Twitter, she posted a video of her victory call with Biden: “We did it, we did it Joe. You’re going to be the next President of the United States.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden and with Democratic running mate Sen. Kamala Harris raise their arms up as fireworks go off in the background during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, August 20, 2020.Trump, who was on the golf course when CNN and other networks called the race for the former vice president, has shown no indication that he intends to concede. While en route to his course in Virginia, he tweeted: “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!”close dialog
Want to understand American politics?We’ve got you.Sign Me UpNo ThanksBy subscribing you agree to ourprivacy policy.But Biden supporters — whose face masks reflected the extraordinary circumstances of a pandemic-era election poured into the streets across the country in a moment of catharsis to celebrate the President-elect’s victory.After four years of Trump’s incessant lies, bullying and vilification of his political opponents, the former vice president said he was running to restore the character of the nation and bring dignity back to the White House.Biden, who turns 78 at the end of this month, will become the oldest president when he is inaugurated in January amid the worst public health emergency in 100 years, the deepest economic slump since the 1930s and a national reckoning on racism and police brutality that is still unresolved.His election will end Trump’s tumultuous hold on Washington and condemn the Republican, who has had a lifelong obsession with winning, to the ranks of chief executives who lost after a single term.Former President Barack Obama released a statement that served as testimonial to the character of his former vice president and asked Americans to set aside their political differences and give him a chance.”When he walks into the White House in January, he’ll face a series of extraordinary challenges no incoming President ever has — a raging pandemic, an unequal economy and justice system, a democracy at risk, and a climate in peril,” Obama wrote. “I know he’ll do the job with the best interests of every American at heart, whether or not he had their vote.”The former President asked every American to “give him a chance and lend him your support.””The election results at every level show that the country remains deeply and bitterly divided,” Obama said. “It will be up to not just Joe and Kamala, but each of us, to do our part — to reach out beyond our comfort zone, to listen to others, to lower the temperature and find some common ground from which to move forward, all of us remembering that we are one nation, under God.”In a cinematic twist, it was Biden’s boyhood state of Pennsylvania that put him over the 270 electoral vote threshold and delivered the White House. Trump had held a wide lead over Biden on the night of the election, but as election officials counted hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots, the race shifted dramatically in Biden’s favor, infuriating Trump and his allies, who knew the President’s path to the White House was over without the commonwealth.
Joe Biden stops in front of his childhood home on July 9, 2020 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.That the Keystone State was the last hurdle in Biden’s path to the White House was a fitting end to a hard-fought race given that the former vice president has long cultivated his image as “middle-class Joe” from Scranton. In a visit that now seems almost prophetic, he had made a final trip to his childhood home in the city on Election Day after spending much of the campaign promising to prioritize the livelihoods of the many working-class voters whom Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in her 2016 bid.On one of the living room walls in the house where he grew up, he wrote: “From this House to the White House with the Grace of God,” signing his name and the date,”11.3.2020.”In the final days of the race, Biden’s team redoubled their efforts to rebuild the Democrats’ “blue wall” — and that gambit paid off with Biden winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to CNN projections, while holding Minnesota, which the President made a priority in his reelection push.Biden will also win Nevada, CNN projects, widening his Electoral College lead as ballots continue to be counted around the country. Georgia could head to a recount and votes were still trickling in from Arizona, where Biden is maintaining an edge.Biden currently holds a 279-214 margin in the Electoral College.As he watched his hopes of reelection being strangled with each tranche of votes in Pennsylvania, Trump lashed out on Twitter during the tense vote count, attempting to undermine democratic institutions with demands like “STOP THE COUNT.”The President falsely claimed the election was being stolen from him as many mail-in ballots, which were often counted after Election Day votes, landed in the column of his opponent.Facing a deeply polarized country, Biden had tried to project comity and patience, and his desire to unite America.”There will not be blue states and red states when we win. Just the United States of America,” Biden said Wednesday afternoon. “We are not enemies. What brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than anything that can tear us apart.”
Biden speaks to his supporters at a drive-in rally on Wednesday, November 4.Part of Trump’s frustration stemmed from the fact that his campaign’s finely tuned ground game did in fact succeed in turning out many more of the so-called “hidden Trump voters” than expected, making the race a much tighter contest than pre-election polls suggested.Trump continued to cast aspersions on the electoral process — wrongly suggesting that there was something nefarious about the fact that the vote count in key states continued well after Tuesday night, as is customary in US elections.Meanwhile, his team mounted a series of lawsuits in several states, including Pennsylvania, looking to stop vote counting in some areas while challenging how closely observers can monitor officials counting the votes in others. The Trump campaign also said it would demand a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden led Trump by some 20,000 votes, even though historically a margin of that magnitude is unlikely to be reversed.
A career-long quest realized
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden shakes hands with his successor, Mike Pence, after they had lunch in Washington, DC, in November 2016.Hide Caption39 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden wipes away tears as Obama surprises him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January 2017. “For your faith in your fellow Americans, for your love of country and for your lifetime of service that will endure through the generations, I’d like to ask the military aide to join us on stage,” Obama said in the ceremony. “For my final time as President, I am pleased to award our nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”Hide Caption40 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden poses for a photo with a dog named Biden as he greets a crowd on Capitol Hill in March 2017.Hide Caption41 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden speaks at a fundraising dinner for New Hampshire Democrats in April 2017. Biden, who advisers said was nowhere near making a decision on whether to run for president in 2020, addressed the question head-on. “Guys, I’m not running!” he said with a smile, as the audience in the hotel ballroom booed in response.Hide Caption42 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden tosses his jacket off stage as he begins to speak at a rally in Pittsburgh in April 2019. Days earlier, he announced that he would be running for president for a third time.Hide Caption43 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden is confronted by US Sen. Kamala Harris during the first Democratic debates in June 2019. Harris went after Biden over his early-career opposition to federally mandated busing. “I did not oppose busing in America,” Biden told Harris. “What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education.”Hide Caption44 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden takes a selfie with supporters in Detroit after CNN’s Democratic debates in July 2019.Hide Caption45 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden is questioned about his son Hunter during a campaign stop in New Hampton, Iowa, in December 2019. Biden grew visibly frustrated with the man, calling him a “damn liar” after the man accused Biden of sending his son to Ukraine “to get a job and work for a gas company, that he had no experience with gas, nothing.” Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president. He said recently he used “poor judgment” in serving on the board of the company while his father was pushing anti-corruption measures in Ukraine on behalf of the US government, but he added that he didn’t do anything improper. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.Hide Caption46 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden speaks with Jacquelyn Brittany, a security guard at The New York Times, in December 2019. Brittany was escorting Biden to a Times editorial board meeting when she said: “I love you. I do. You’re like my favorite.” The exchange was aired as part of the Times’ TV series “The Weekly,” and was circulated on social media. In August 2020, Brittany gave the first speech officially nominating Biden for president at the Democratic National Convention. “I take powerful people up on my elevator all the time,” Brittany said. “When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me, I just head back to the lobby. But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me. That he actually cared, that my life meant something to him. And I knew even when he went into his important meeting, he’d take my story in there with him.” Biden responded on Twitter: “Jacquelyn: Your nomination means the world to me. Thank you — and I hope you know: we love you back.”Hide Caption47 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden speaks at a caucus-night rally in Des Moines, Iowa, in February 2020. He finished a disappointing fourth.Hide Caption48 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden rallied from early setbacks in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, winning the South Carolina primary in February 2020. “Just days ago, the press and pundits had declared this candidacy dead,” Biden said in his speech to supporters. “Because of you, the heart of the Democratic Party, we just won and we won big because of you. We are very much alive.”Hide Caption49 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden puts his hands on the shoulders of Pete Buttigieg as Buttigieg endorses him for president in March 2020. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, had just dropped out of the Democratic race.Hide Caption50 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden’s wife, Jill, blocks a protester who charged the stage during his Super Tuesday speech in Los Angeles in March 2020. The protester was holding a sign that said “Let dairy die.”Hide Caption51 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden and US Sen. Kamala Harris greet each other at a Detroit high school as they attend a “Get Out the Vote” event in March 2020. Harris had dropped out of the presidential race a few months earlier.Hide Caption52 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden has a testy exchange about gun rights as he tours a Fiat Chrysler assembly plant in Detroit in March 2020. A man confronted Biden and accused the former vice president of trying to “take away our guns.” Biden responded, “You’re full of s***” and tried to clarify his policies, saying he supports the Second Amendment.Hide Caption53 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden greets US Sen. Bernie Sanders with an elbow bump before the start of their one-on-one debate in Washington, DC, in March 2020. The two Democrats went with an elbow bump instead of a handshake because of the coronavirus pandemic. Sanders ended his presidential campaign the following month, clearing Biden’s path to the Democratic nomination.Hide Caption54 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenIn May 2020, Biden denied a former aide’s claims that he sexually assaulted her 27 years ago. “This never happened,” Biden said of Tara Reade’s allegation. In an interview with MSNBC, Biden said he did not know why Reade was now making the allegation.Hide Caption55 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenOn Memorial Day, the Bidens lay a wreath at the Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware. In a CNN interview, Biden called President Donald Trump “an absolute fool” for sharing a tweet that mocked him for wearing a mask.Hide Caption56 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden touches his face while speaking at a church in Wilmington, Delaware, in June 2020. As he spoke with African-American leaders, Biden pledged to take steps to combat institutional racism and re-establish a police oversight body at the Justice Department.Hide Caption57 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenPeople are socially distanced from one another as Biden speaks in Darby, Pennsylvania, in June 2020.Hide Caption58 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden holds handwritten notes that reference US Sen. Kamala Harris in July 2020. The talking points fueled fresh speculation about Harris’ standing as a possible running mate.Hide Caption59 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden calls Harris from his Delaware home to inform her that she was his choice for vice president.Hide Caption60 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden and Harris walk out for their first campaign event as a presidential ticket.Hide Caption61 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden accepts the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination during a speech at the Democratic National Convention. “This campaign isn’t just about winning votes,” Biden said. “It is about winning the heart and, yes, the soul of America.”Hide Caption62 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden joins hands with Harris after the Democratic National Convention in August 2020. They are joined on stage by Biden’s wife, Jill, and Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff.Hide Caption63 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden meets with members of the community while visiting a church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in September 2020. A police shooting caught on video had sparked protests in Kenosha, a city on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee. Demonstrators torched cars and set buildings ablaze, demanding justice in the shooting of Jacob Blake.Hide Caption64 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden speaks to supporters from a distance after meeting with labor leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in September 2020. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Biden has taken a careful approach to campaigning.Hide Caption65 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden greets Vice President Mike Pence as they attend a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.Hide Caption66 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden speaks to reporters before boarding his campaign plane in Duluth, Minnesota, in September 2020.Hide Caption67 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenPeople sitting in social-distancing circles are reflected in Biden’s sunglasses as he speaks in Charlotte, North Carolina.Hide Caption68 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden takes part in the first presidential debate in September 2020. At center is moderator Chris Wallace, who had his hands full as the debate often devolved into shouting, rancor and cross talk that sometimes made it impossible to follow what either candidate was talking about.Hide Caption69 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden is reminded by his wife, Jill, to maintain proper social distancing as he speaks to reporters at an airport in Miami in October 2020.Hide Caption70 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden sits across from ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos before the start of his town-hall event in Philadelphia in October 2020. Biden and Trump held separate town halls instead of debating each other in a town-hall format. The schedule change came about after Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus. The Commission on Presidential Debates proposed a virtual debate, but Trump refused to take part and Biden went ahead with plans for his own town hall. Trump’s campaign later arranged its own town hall — on a different network, during the same hour.Hide Caption71 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden speaks during his debate with Trump in October 2020. Because their first debate quickly descended into a glorified shouting match, the Commission on Presidential Debates instituted an unprecedented change this time around: The candidates had their microphones cut off while their opponent responded to the first question of each of the debate’s six segments.Hide Caption72 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden and his wife, Jill, wave after they voted in Wilmington, Delaware, in October 2020.Hide Caption73 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden is joined by his running mate, US Sen. Kamala Harris, after Election Day came and went without a winner. “After a long night of counting, it’s clear that we are winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency,” Biden told supporters at a drive-in rally in Wilmington, Delaware. “I’m not here to declare that we have won. But I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”Hide Caption74 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden’s wife, Jill, tweeted this photo after her husband was projected as the winner of the presidential race. “He will be a President for all of our families,” she said.Hide Caption75 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe BidenBiden is embraced by family members in this photo that was tweeted by his granddaughter Naomi. It was captioned “11.07.20” — the date the race was called.Hide Caption76 of 76
PHOTOS: President-elect Joe Biden.
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